Songfacts®:

• The "Black Cat Bone" is a blues totem. Black cats are considered a sign of bad luck in some cultures, but in the Hoodoo world adhered to by many African-American residents of the American South at the time, the bone of a black cat had special powers, typically allowing its holder to attain a special woman who resists his tangible charms. In this song, Winter is looking for the bone to solve his lady problems.
• A Texas blues musician named Hop Wilson wrote a song called "My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone" sometime in the '50s; this tune has been covered by Albert Collins, Robert Cray and many other artists. Lightnin' Hopkins also had a song called "Black Cat Bone," and many famous bluesmen have incorporated the phrase into their lyrics: Muddy Waters did it in "Hoochie Coochie Man" ("I got a black cat bone and I got a mojo"), and Blind Lemon Jefferson in "Broke and Hungry" ("I believe my good gal have found my black cat bone"), and Bo Diddley in his eponymous song ("Mojo come to my house, ya black cat bone").